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Boston U Goes Online for Donor Management

By Dian Schaffhauser

01/10/11

Boston University is employing a Web-based application from Blackbaud to support a major fundraising effort. The private research university will be working with the company's Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) to support its development and alumni relations activities. It will also use Blackbaud's Target Analytics to help identify potential supporters.

The software is intended to streamline donor management and help develop donor profiles more fully by providing a single database for maintaining that information. Currently, the university has the data spread across multiple databases. The CRM application also allows for task notification and automates administrative work related to outreach, such as mailings and reports. Target Analytics addresses prospect research, donor acquisition and development, and donor performance and benchmarking.

In its fiscal year 2010, the university raised $85 million in gifts and $84 million in formal pledges. But a strategic plan finished in 2007 calls for $1.8 billion over a decade to fund institutional initiatives. Forty-two percent of that funding is targeted to come from gifts and new endowments.

"With Blackbaud CRM, we will now have one progressive solution that will help us better track and manage our relationships with Boston University alumni, prospects, and donors and--ultimately--strengthen funding opportunities for the university," said Lisa Uglialoro, assistant vice president for advancement services. "We are confident that with Blackbaud's products and exceptional expertise in serving higher education institutions, we can build a development operation that fully supports the University's strategy."